Acquired brain injury with dementia like memory loss

[Steve01242]

My brother suffered a brain injury in 2012 and since then has been confined to a care home as his wife can't cope with him. My parents and I are planning to hopefully get him to come and live with us, but the local authority are not being very forthcoming about what support is available. I notice there is a lot of good advice on the Alzheimer's web site and was wondering if the finance / support / care provision sections would apply to us or more specifically my 46 year old brother?
Does anyone have any experience on this?

 

[Grannie G]

Does anyone have any experience on this?

I have no experience of this @Steve01242 nor do you say whether your brother`s brain injury has caused progressive damage or not.

I'm sure you and your parents want to do the best for him.

I'm sorry to be negative but after 6 years in a care home do you think he may have become institutionalised and perhaps unable to cope within a domestic family situation.

I know the point of your post is to ask for information about funding and LA support if your brother came home and really the only ones able to answer this would be your own LA.

I hope others may be able to offer you more reassurance .

 

[Izzy]

Hi @Steve01242 and welcome to Talking Point.

I wondered if it might be useful to give the Helpline a ring -

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-s...55.1769454811.1519233588-549088353.1488398070

Phone number - 0300 222 11 22

Helpline opening hours:
Monday to Wednesday 9am – 8pm
Thursday and Friday 9am – 5pm
Saturday and Sunday 10am – 4pm

 

[jaymor]

Hi @Steve01242 and welcome to TP.

Is the Local Authority funding your brothers care in the care home? If they are then they should fund it outside of the care home, it will all depend on cost.

If they are funding him ask that they assess his needs and go from there with your ideas as to how you will cover his needs at home. It won’t be easy, caring for someone 24 hours a day is a hard job. Please let us know how you get on.

 

[Kevinl]

Hi Steve, welcome to TP
It doesn't matter about his age or that the damage is acquired the LA still have to follow the same rules as per the Mental Capacity Act (MCA). The reason for the lack of capacity may stem from birth like Down's Syndrome or cerebral palsy, it could be acquired or it could be AZ or dementia that has caused the lack of capacity, the rules are still the same.
The MCA states that the Local Authority should always use the "least restrictive option" and so a care home is probably the most restrictive if there is an option for him having a family life with you.
As has been said you'll have to get the LA to do an assessment (usually you can request this on line, phone calls can be..mishandled shall we say), then the LA can tell you what they can offer and as Grannie g says this will vary from one authority to another.
You could apply for Continuing Health Care (CHC) funding, Personal Independent Payments (PIP's) a member of the family could apply for carer's allowance (about £62 per week) and the LA could provide home visits from a carer (or 2) anything up the 4 times a day.
You really need social services to get their act together and as I say try and do it by e-mail or in writing so there's a paper trail or they'll never do anything other than at their speed.
I trust your brother's wife is in agreement with the plan, if not then that could be a problem.
K

 

[Amethyst59]

Hello, @Steve01242 ...you’ve had some good advice here. I’m really sorry if you have considered this already, but have you thought about the long term future? As your parents get older it will become harder to provide a home for someone with such a high level of needs, and you may, eventually find yourself having to provide care alone...or be in the position of looking for a home again, for your brother. That possible major disruption for him would need to be weighed against any possible gain in his situation now.

 

[canary]

My OH has an acquired brain injury and is now getting frontal lobe dementia type changes.
Things that the LA would pay for are carers coming in (up to a max of 3 or 4 times a day half-hour slots), day care, and befriending, but that will still leave you with lots of hours coping on your own. You could also get an OT assessment of your house to see if things like ramps, grab rails, bath aids etc would be helpful.

I am concerned, though, that you are thinking of looking after him even though his wife cannot cope. Do you know the reasons why she could not cope? In my experience, wives will do everything they can (and more) to keep their husband at home with them. Have you talked to the care home about his needs? One of the biggest problems with someone with acquired brain injury can be aggression and also disinhibition - although it very much depends on where in the brain is injured.

If, once you know exactly what you are up against, you still want to go ahead then you could try getting him to stay with you for maybe a week and see what it is like. The worst thing would be if you got your home, funding etc in place, brought him back and after a few days discovered that you couldnt cope either and he will have lost his room in the care home.